Graduation for seven students in Cowley College’s Mobile Intensive Care Technician (paramedic) program was held Friday in the Earle N. Wright Community Room at the main campus in Arkansas City. The program that finished on December 9 completed the AAS degree requirements for these graduates.

The following are the graduating members of the class: Jolene Davis, Derby; Aaron Dixon, Wichita; Lucas Martin, Caney; Kaitlin McConnell, South Haven; Chris Nations, Wichita; Alexandra Prilliman, Winfield; and William Waddell, Derby.

The evening began with Chris Cannon, Allied Health Department Chair, issuing the welcome and discussing the education the graduates received while in Cowley’s program. Cannon thanked the graduates for their extensive work during the program, and thanked the graduates’ families for supporting them during a difficult year.

Brandon Russell, Butler County EMS Deputy Director and Chair of the Cowley College MICT Advisory Committee, delivered the keynote address to the graduating class. Russell stressed that being a good paramedic and providing excellent patient care is not enough to improve EMS as a career.

“The need to be actively involved at the regional, state and national levels by serving on committees and being members of professional organizations is just as important as providing quality patient care” Russell said.

Malachi Winters, MICT Instructor, conferred the certificates and presented the honor awards for the class. William Waddell was the program honor graduate, Chris Nations was the Lyle Echart award winner and Kaitlin McConnell was the Patrick J. McAtee award recipient. A certificate of appreciation was also presented to Stefani Jones, Coordinator of Allied Health Support Services, for her outstanding work and dedication to the EMS program. Dr. Patrick J. McAtee, president of Cowley College, then presented the class of 2010 to the gathering of about 100 people who came to honor the graduates.

During the course of their schooling, the graduates assessed over 4,000 patients and administered over 2,000 medications during the year. With this 16th graduating class, Cowley MICT graduates now treat approximately 80,000 patients each year.

The national job outlook continues to be greater than average, and the local job outlook looks promising. All graduates passed their written certification examination on the first attempt, and are Kansas certified paramedics.

Cowley currently has two MICT programs in progress – one in Winfield at the Allied Health Education Center and another in partnership at Butler Community College at the Andover campus.